The Softronic company from Craiova, which produces locomotives, is the first beneficiary in Romania of the de minimis aid for increasing the competitiveness of industrial products, the financing contract being signed on Tuesday, at the company's headquarters, by its representatives and Minister of Economy Florin Spataru."It is the first financing contract for the state aid scheme for increasing competitiveness and I am glad that the first beneficiary of this scheme is a Romanian company with whom I discussed the possibility of development, because the transport sector is a strategic sector for Romania, and the production of locomotives and their maintenance in a company in Romania is an important goal for us. Through this state aid scheme, Softronic will be able to develop a very interesting project and I hope that in the very near future we will see locomotives with hydrogen-based propulsion, high-capacity electric locomotives to be used by Romanian companies in the Romanian railway system," said the minister of economy.According to him, the contract has a value of 200,000 EUR and represents a first stage for the development of the competitiveness of this company through innovation projects."This de minimis scheme has a value of 6 million EUR. I hope that the vast majority of companies that will apply will be companies with Romanian capital. They will be able to develop their laboratories, management systems, but also purchase products or equipment that could increase their competitiveness. That is why he said that it is important for Softronic to develop its ability to access very large projects such as schemes for the manufacturing industry with a minimum value of 3 million EUR. And if you have this hall and develop this production capacity with a green component that reduces energy consumption, practically Softronic could become an important player on the market of railway products," the minister of economy also stated.Florin Spataru said that the second call for state aid schemes for the manufacturing industry, worth 150 million EUR, will begin on February 1, now that the evaluation for the first stage has been done, in which there are 28 companies that have met the score maximum and for which the differentiation will have to be made.The representative of the Softronic company, Ionel Ghita, stated that this company with 100% Romanian capital exports locomotives to Sweden, Austria, Hungary and, more recently, Bulgaria.
Participation in cultural education activities continues to be limited, with the main barriers being difficult access, insufficient knowledge, and cost, the recently released Cultural Consumption Barometer 2024 shows. The report showed that many Romanians still associate culture with entertainment rather than with personal development or furthering their knowledge. The need for relaxation dominates in cultural […]
Roughly 84% of Romanians say that the pace of the state’s digitalization is slow or very slow, according to an Edge Institute & AtlasIntel study presented at the Digital Governance Summit 2025, which took place on Tuesday, November 25, at the presidential palace in Bucharest. The survey aims to capture the way citizens relate to […]
Romania’s Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) issued a negative opinion on the new bill regarding magistrates’ pensions. The move is only the latest development concerning a heated issue that led to tensions between the executive and the judiciary branch. CSM’s opinion is consultative, and the government led by Ilie Bolojan can still take responsibility for […]
Romania took the presidency of the Central European Initiative (or CEI) on Wednesday, November 26, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). The organization is a regional intergovernmental forum established in 1989, following the fall of the Berlin Wall. It gathers 17 Member States in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe […]
Trade between Romania and Poland continues to grow, with annual bilateral exchanges in goods now valued at more than EUR 12 billion, according to figures presented by the Polish-Romanian Bilateral Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PRBCC). The data was released during a reception in Bucharest marking Poland’s Independence Day and Romania’s National Day. Polish investments […]
As Romania moves closer to implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, local employers are preparing for one of the most consequential shifts in workplace regulation in over a decade. The directive, set for transposition by June 2026, introduces strict new rules on salary disclosure, pay reporting, and equal-pay verification, aiming to close persistent gender gaps […]
